eCommerce and Entrepreneurship Blog

Five Product Page Optimization's for Traffic and Conversions

Josh Mc — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:53:00 -1400

While it is natural for ecommerce sites to focus on optimizing the home page, individual product pages also deserve some attention, and can yeild great rewards if they are keep up to date and optimized. Every web page can be modified to send a clearer signal to search engines and provide greater opportunities for conversion and sales.

Keep in mind, there are two "audiences" that need to be addressed when optimizing product pages: the search engine spiders, which are constantly gathering data and ranking web pages for there informational value; and live human users, who are gathering information to make informed shopping decisions. A well-optimized product page will speak in perfect harmony to search engines and people alike. Here are a five easy tips for optimizing your product page for more traffic and more conversions.

1. Unique Content
Search engines, like Google, Ask, Bing and Yahoo!, will place great SEO value on unique content that appears nowhere else on the web. Rather than copying descriptions from product manuals word-for-word, write your own exclusive content that romances the product in new ways. Well-written product descriptions are a powerful search engine attractor as well as a helpful sales tool.

2. Keyword Usage
A lot is said about keywords in optimization, and there are a few cardinal rules to follow. The most important is to optimize only one keyword or phrase (precise string of keywords) per page. This means do not push multiple keywords on the same page as it becomes very easy for your message to get lost. Research the keyword you would like to target and optimize the page for it.

3. Product Page Titles
When naming your product page, write a strong title that prominently features your selected keyword. A long, descriptive page name will tend to dilute its effect, so give your product page a short and concise title and put your most important keyword near the front.

4. Page Layout
Make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for with an on-site search box. Shoppers will favor the top part of a web page for conversion, and search engines also evaluate content from the top down, so keep your most important messages "above the fold." Also, you can help pages load faster by reducing excessively large graphic files to smaller sizes.

5. Link Directly to Product Pages
Back links are like SEO gold, but linked keywords don't always have to land on your home page. In fact, linking straight to product pages is one of the most effective optimization techniques known. Put your keyword to its best advantage by linking right to the exact page that inspired it. It is one of the most powerful tips for optimizing your product page.

These are just a couple tips for optimizing your product page. Let us know in the comments if you have any additional tips that you would recommend.

Five Optimizations to Keep Customers Coming Back in 2012

Josh Mc — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:40:00 -1400

The start of a new year leads to all of the standard business evaluations. Normally the top of this list is how can I make more money in the upcoming year? Most businesses can get someone to buy a product or service from a website once, but the question is, will they do it again? Here are five tips you can use to optimize and hopefully help your website have a better 2012.

1. Improve your SEO - Search Engine Optimization is a complex order for most people, but here are a couple of things you can do right now to help your SEO. First, make sure you have a Google Webmaster Tools account and are checking it often for errors and new keywords you can be using. It is free, so there is no reason not to set one up.

Also, you want to do some keyword research. Dive into Google Analytics and look for keyword phrases that send traffic, but that you may have never targeted before. This not only has the possibility of bringing new customers, but return customers will often use the same terms.

Lastly, if you are new to SEO go through this checklist and see what parts you may have left out.

2. Offer something extra with every order -This doesn’t have to be a free product or something that is expensive, it could be as simple as an email that is personal and thanks your customer for ordering from you. However, if you wanted to give something away you could possibly use this example. Let's say you sell gardening supplies online. Offer a free bag of seeds with every order. This is a cheap addition that will get people to connect better with your brand. Bonus points if you have the seed packages customized with your company’s information. Doing something small like this can really help your customers to think about you when they need the same product again.

3. Evaluate your call to action - Make sure your call to action is precise and is helping the customer understand what they should do next. "Lose 50 Pounds in Three Weeks." "Clean Your House in Record Time." These are all call-to-action headlines that push the customer to want to find out more about how they can achieve what the headline says. Always remember that this is all about them, not you. How is your product going to help them? How can you make the order sweeter and help them to want to make the purchase?

4. Upgrade your shopping cart - If you're selling actual products on your site, the shopping cart helps to tally and keep track of everything the customer is buying. They can go to the cart page and back as often as they wish to check how much they've spent and to see what they still need to buy from you. Making the shopping cart bigger and easier to see can remind the customer that they have something in it and possibly help increase conversions on your site.

5. Provide a money-back guarantee and follow through quickly - This is often a hard thing to focus on if you are a small business, but taking steps to improve your returns process can help to make a big difference with your customers. If you can turn a refund around as quickly as you filled the order in the first place, rest assured the customer will want to come back. Nothing builds trust between a buyer and a seller than the confidence that both sides will come through in a pinch.

There are just a few tips that can help you grow your business in 2012, if you have others make sure to leave them in the comments.

How to Quit Your Job Without Burning Bridges

Arianna — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:55:00 -1400

As we start a new year, many of us will be working on New Year resolutions. For some it will be the same “lose weight” resolution, for others it might be “go back to school”, or “get a better job.” Focusing on the last resolution, many of us want better jobs and fail to go after them. Here at Gordian Project, we rejoice with those whom have left us and embrace the new co-workers who will soon become a part of our work family. However, many of us struggle to understand why people decide to quit their current job, especially in the economy we currently face. This blog is simply a collection of tips that will help you when moving from one job to the next. So read on and leave a comment if you agree or disagree.

There are several reasons why someone chooses to move on. Some leave for personal reasons, others financial, while others still have life events that cause changes to happen. Barbara Safani wrote about why people quit their jobs in a tough economy, and the reasons are pretty good reasons. People often postpone quitting their jobs because not only is it a delicate subject between the employee and employer but it is often seen as a negative or bad decision. Safani ends her article explaining, “If you are unemployed or dissatisfied in your current position, you too may benefit from the surge of vacancies left by others who voluntarily resign. A job that is not a good match for another person may be the perfect match for you.”

With this said, I wanted to focus on the quitting process. We understand why people quit, and we understand that quitting a job is a natural part of career progress; however we also need to understand how to quit without burning bridges.

First you need to realize that though it is not a negative decision, it is a delicate subject. Knowing when to inform your employer that you are leaving will help you confirm your decision. Often times when an employee tells their superior that they are quitting due to extra benefits or increased salaries, the employer will want to counter-offer and meet those extra benefits to try and convince the employee to stay. This is why it is important for you to inform your employer of the benefits you are being offered before saying “I’m quitting.” If the company can make you a good counter-offer, then you may want to stay with them, and if they cannot, then that can help to make your decision easier.

Second, use your communication skills to make sure your announcement is said and received in a positive manner. Instead of explaining how you hate your job, explain how you found a position where you can use your skills and which is closer to your passion. Talk about how good the change is for you and how much you will miss those around you. Don’t burn bridges. Maybe the company cannot counter-offer the benefits you are looking for, but at a later time they may be able to provide you with an even better position. If you don’t burn bridges you may get a future employment offer, but at the very least you will have a positive recommendation as you move forward in your work career.

Third, be professional and provide a complete two week notice. Less and less people provide their employers with a notice, and the truth is that it can show how professional you are and how much you cared about your co-workers and the company by how much time you give them to prepare for your departure. If you cannot provide a notice, provide your employer with a written letter explaining the circumstances and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Lastly, throw a farewell party. Any reason is a good reason to throw a party! Invite all your co-workers, your bosses and managers. By including all of your co-workers, you are making sure you end your current relationship on a positive note.

Remember, quitting is not a big deal when it’s done right. Let me know what you think in the comments and if you have other suggestions on how to quit without burning bridges.

The Top Posts from 2011 - eCommerce and Entreprenuership Blog

Josh Mc — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:58:00 -1400

Every year we like to look back on what posts hit home the most for our readers, and this year is no exception. 2011 was a year of ups and downs, with Google’s Panda shift effecting SEO’s, big changes from established social networks and new companies trying to carve themselves a piece of the pie. Our top five blogs reflect many of these ups and downs as well as many other practical pieces of advice for eCommerce marketers. Check them out below and let us know some of the top things you learned this year in the comments.

5. Providing Exceptional Customer Service
Arianna starts off the top blogs list this year was a post she wrote only 2 months ago about providing excellent customer service. She provides four tips you can use as a customer service manager to hopefully spur your team on to providing better service to your customers.

4. Six Tips for Gaining Twitter Follower
Twitter became increasingly popular this year with millions more people and businesses joining the service, as well as a lot of traction from the media and celebrities. This post helped provide tips for gaining followers on Twitter and helped to build out your personal network.

3. Best Practices for Ecommerce Upselling
Another post from earlier in the year, Joelle wrote a whole bunch of great tips on how to increase your ecommerce sales team’s ability to upsell customers. This is especially relevant in today’s marketplace where almost every company is making the transition into the online world.

2. How Google Makes Their Money
Just a simple infographic, this post made its way around the social networks as it showed in design form how Google makes money from its keywords. It was extremely interesting to see that some keywords can cost up to 50 dollars per click. Check it out if you haven’t seen it.

1. The Top Nine Social Media Sites for Website Traffic
The number one post this year was one that collected the many different social networks currently making a splash and broke down the nine best ones for traffic to your site. It was well received and started a lot of conversation on which were better and why.

So there you have it, another year gone by. Hope you enjoyed our posts here at the eCommerce and Entreprenuership blog, and we look forward to connecting with more of you next year as well. Make sure to leave a comment if there is a topic that you would like us to cover in more detail next year. Here’s to a great 2012!

Tips for Winning Over Angry Customers

Arianna — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:37:00 -1400

Winning over angry customers has to be the single hardest problem customer service team’s face every day. Thankfully, in our field we do not deal with face to face interactions, so it can often be easier to handle angry customers then in person. By far the best thing you can do to win over angry customers is to give your “5-star” attitude: Sit up straight, breathe, give your full attention, be extremely patient, and be efficient. When you need some extra tips though, here are a couple great ideas that should help you provide excellent service to rude customers.

Create a Personal Connection
Remember to make a personal connection with angry customers. When you begin to connect with the customer, they start realizing that you are also a human. Customers tend to calm down once they start to understand that you care about whom they are or what their issue is, rather than just being another call they had to take.

Find the Real Issue
It is also really important for customer service representatives to dig deeper and find the real issues behind the ranting and raving. If giving the customer their options, apologizing for the inconvenience and trying to resolve the customer's issues are not good enough for the customer and they start using foul language, it is okay for representatives to say, “Customer, there is nothing more I would rather do than resolve your issue. With the language you are using right now though, it is making it difficult for me to assist you. Can we bring down the tone please?” If they continue to scream and yell then finally say, “I’m sorry you feel this way…I can see you are really upset and so I recommend that we continue this conversation at another time. I will give you a call tomorrow at a designated time to continue our conversation then. Thank you.”

Connect and Motivate your Customer Service Team
Trying to provide a “5-star” attitude, making sure we connect with the customers and also protecting our feelings, can help you stay positive with angry customers, while maybe even getting the customers to calm down a bit as well. But regardless of how much you try to stay positive, the feeling that you are left with after dealing with rude and angry customers is hard to explain. With all of my focus being on handling angry customers I decided to give each team member a goody bag. Each bag contained a pack of Q-tips, a mirror, a smile file, LaffyTaffys and thank you cards. Each item had a specific meaning.

The Q-tips were to remind each representative to Quit Taking It Personal – when an angry customer starts attacking their self-esteem they need to take a Q-tip out of the box and once the phone call is over throw away the Q-tip; hopefully the box still has some Q-tips at the end of the month. The mirror was so that the representatives can look at their attitudes while talking to angry customers. A customer can always sense a smile over the phone and it is important that we try to kill anger with kindness, and having a mirror in front of them can force them to smile. The smile file was so that at the end of the call, the representatives can go through and read the emails of other customers that were glad they talked to them and had a great experience. The LaffyTaffys, were so that in the end they can just laugh it off and move on. Lastly, the thank you cards were so that our representatives could send their individual customers personal thank you cards for ordering with our company.

The team loved the bags and the representatives have been using all of the items. I have seen a great impact in our overall attitudes and we have learned to love those angry customers that can make our job difficult!

What are some of the tips you and your team use to win over anger callers?

Google Zeitgeist 2011: A Year In Review

Josh Mc — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:39:00 -1400

One of my favorite things about the end of the year is all of the lists that come up to remind us what has happened as we look back. As I posted last year, the Google Zeitgeist is one of my favorite of these recaps. It takes Google's products such as Search, Earth and Google+ to make a video that blends the top news and searches of 2011. Google has a lot of other lists as well that you can see here. Check it out below and leave us a comment to let us know what you think.

Five Considerations When Hiring IT Staff

Josh Mc — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:14:00 -1400

Hiring an employee to handle IT (Information Technology) responsibilities can feel overwhelming, especially if a business is new and does not have much experience in having an IT department. Hiring a good IT person is a huge asset to the company, while hiring a bad one can actually hurt workplace moral. By keeping in mind the below considerations, you should be on your way to selecting a good IT person for your workplace.

1. Knowledge
In order to find the right IT guy, it is important to consider whether or not they truly understand the business. Do they really know what their responsibilities consist of and what they may be expected to do during certain times of the year? They need to be aware of what they are in for and what skills they will be expected to use at any given time. You will also want to test their knowledge of these skills so that you know you are hiring someone that can walk the talk.

2. Personality
The IT person that will work well with the business needs to have a positive and engaging personality. Other employees, for example, should not be nervous or afraid about approaching them; a negative work environment can only lead to unhappiness and widespread consequences. If the IT staff is full of friendly personalities, people will be more confident about their performance and role in the business. The IT person should be willing to work with others and contribute to the health of the business.

3. Willingness
Any good employee, no matter what their tasks may be or who they are working for, needs to be willing to try new things. If they are presented with a job they have never handled or been exposed to before, they cannot behave as though they are positive they are going to fail. The potential employee needs to be willing to do what they can to handle the new responsibility; not just for their own sake, but for the sake of the IT department and the success and growth of the business as a whole.

4. Flexibility
On top of a willingness to try, it is also important for an employer to consider a potential IT guy that is flexible. They should be able to handle whatever comes their way, be it a computer that simply will not turn on or a virus that has infected the data system in the office. Also, they should be able to change their hours to deal with fixing a computer when an employee has gone for the day or do some late night work if the website has gone down. Often, they will have to be flexible when it comes to helping customers deal with tech products issues, should such a thing apply. An employer needs an IT employee that can adjust what they are doing to handle different problems, especially when it comes to technology.

5. Professionalism
One of the most important considerations to remember is professionalism. No matter how social the IT person may be, or how willing they are to handle new responsibilities on a daily basis, it means little if they are not professional. If they do not appear to take their job seriously, or if they appear to be immature, they should not be hired for any positions.

Hiring an IT guy, for any business, can be seen as a stressful venture. However, by looking at the considerations above, an employer can hope to have a higher success rate. If you have other considerations that you use, make sure to leave them in the comments.

How Hard is Getting a Job at Google (Infographic)

Josh Mc — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:40:00 -1400

I know this is two inforgraphics in a row, but this one is so interesting that I could not resist posting it. For all of the hiring managers and HR departments out there you will be interested in seeing what it takes to get a job at Google and then being able to contrast that with your own company. Check it out below and let me know what you think in the comments.

Infographic by Jobvine Recruitment Network

Infographic on the Future of Online Holiday Shopping

Josh Mc — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:42:00 -1400

BlueKai created this great infographic that I thought I would share. It has data from 2010 trends and applies them to the new 2011 holiday season. Check it out below and let me know what you think in the comments.

Original Source of this infograpic is here at BlueKai

How to Fix a Hacked Site and Make it Safe for the Future

Josh Mc — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 08:10:00 -1400

Over the last couple of months I have been forced to, twice now, deal with compromised websites. This entails finding the problem, getting them cleaned up, the warnings removed and then back in the Google index. Luckily it was not one of our main sites but cleaning up even a small blog can be a time consuming process. In that I have collected these tips to help when anyone else sees that little message under your site stating “This site may harm your computer." I know for some of you this may be to much on the surface, but for others they may never know to do some of these things.

Don’t Panic
I know it is horrible to see your livelihood be infected by malware, but the worst thing you can do is panic and start to desperately run around wondering why something like this would happen to your site. This will not help your site to get cleaned up so the best thing you can do is keep a level head and follow the steps to see how it is happening and how you can quickly address it.

Get the Site Scanned
When working with a hacked site I always head over to a good site scanner, such as the Sucuri SiteCheck and have them scan my site. Most often they will tell you what the issue might be and will give you information on how to fix it. If you are not savvy with htaccess files and other parts of your site you may want to opt for their paid service which will clean your site and monitor it for you to make sure no other infections take place. If you are savvy then run the test, get the details and start implementing their ideas.

Check the htaccess
One of the sites that I was working with had an issue where if you typed in the domain name the site worked fine; however, if you tried to enter the site from a search engine you were directed away from the site to a Canadian drug store. One of the reasons why this is a preferred method for hackers is that many site owners will not search their site in a search engine, they will just type it into a browser. So if you are hit with something like this then it can take people weeks or months to realize it is happening. Here is an example of what the htaccess file looked like for the hacked domain as it may help you to notice what to look for.

Check Google or Bing Webmaster Tools
If your site is doing more than simply taking over the htaccess, then it is a good idea to check webmaster tools and see if Google has any notifications as to what is going on with your website. Many times they will tell you there is malware on it or try to notify you that something weird is happening. They also have a great series of steps you can do to clean up your site here as well.

Fetch as Google Bot
On the second site that was hacked, they were not having the htaccess issues but had a little piece of code that was in the footer of the site which was showing Google bot a whole bunch of links that a normal user would not see. In order to find this I did a fetch as Google bot in webmaster tools and was able to notice that Google was seeing something different then I was. I found the piece of code and removed it from the site and then it stopped giving Google those extra links.

Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg and not all hacks will fall into these types of fixes, but these are a lot of the common things to look for. Now you may ask what to do after you have cleaned it, to which I would recommend these things.

Change your Passwords
I know passwords are hard to remember as is, but you should change them right away, change the FTP, Hosting, Site, Database, etc. This is the most important thing to do right away. If you do not do this then whatever work you do can be just as easily erased as soon as you fix it, by whoever has access too it already.

Set Up Google Webmaster Tools
Setting up Google Webmasters Tools for your site is easy and free. It will give you tons of data for your site such as what users are searching for to get there and who is linking to you. It will also let you know whether your site has been compromised or not. If you do only one thing after reading this blog make sure it’s setting up webmaster tools.

Keep Your Installs Up to Date
By far one of the most often exploited parts of a site is the database or content management system. Whether that is Wordpress, Drupal or something else, making sure it is up to date is the number one way you can combat attacks. The same is true for the plug ins that you use. Keeping all of them up to date can help you stop would be hackers from exploiting your site.

Do Not Share Hosting Access
Having a shared hosting account for multiple sites is fine, but making sure that the other people who are sharing your hosting are keeping their installs up to date is a must. Even if your site is up to date, another site on the hosting account could let in the hackers. Make sure you only share hosting with someone you know and trust will keep up their site.

Keep Backups
This is by far one of the most important things you can do. Even if you don’t back it up every day make sure you are making a backup at least once a month. This way if all else fails at least you can fall back on a time when your site was not infected.

Request Reconsideration
After your site has been cleaned and you have verified that with the scanner that I mentioned above, make sure you file a reconsideration request with Google. This is one of the most forgotten tasks and probably the most important. Google will not bring your site back into the index and remove the warning without having your site cleaned and reconsideration request filed. You can do this through your Google Webmaster tools account and it is very straight forward and easy to use. In my two times doing it I have seen a response and the warning removed within one to two weeks, so make sure you fill it out as soon as your site is fixed.

So there it is, my tips on both fixing a hacked site and then keeping it safe in the long term. Make sure you leave a comment if you have another tip as well.

Providing Exceptional Customer Service

Arianna — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 05:03:00 -1400

I recently went to a customer service seminar that was titled “How to Deliver Exceptional Customer Service.” It was one of the best seminars that I have been to and so I would like to share some of the tips and facts that have helped my team to grow as a result. Our emphasis as a company has always been to provide great customer service, so that customers keep coming back; however, there are many reasons for non-repeat customers, some of which you can directly impact and some you cannot. Statistics actually show that 1% of customers do not return because they died, 3% moved away, 5% developed a friendship with another company, 9% because of competition, 14% because they were dissatisfied with the products and 68% because of employee apathy! These numbers show that the highest percentage reason for why someone does not return is something we can directly impact and positively change. For customer service teams, this is both humbling and exciting!

In a call center, providing great customer service is often difficult due to face to face interaction being non-existent. In any conversation, appearance is 55% of the message; 38% is how you say it and 7% are just the words alone. With so much emphasis on appearance we need to make sure our phone appearance is at its best. Phone appearance is basically your tone of voice and attitude, so set your inner compass to appreciate customers. Remind yourself to be thankful for your job. Make sure that all your reactions and your tone of voice reflect the posture of gratitude.

In telecommunications the number one goal is to make the customer glad they called and talked to you specifically! In that, there are some basic steps to tackling a phone call.

-First, you need to think about what you are going to say before you answer the phone. It is really important to have consistency in a team when answering the call – you want the customer to have the same experience every time they call and with all employees at the company.

-Second, make sure that you answer the call within two or three rings. You want the customer to know they are a priority.

-Third, make sure you say your name; customers want to know who is on the other line. Also, be clear with them and indicate whether you’re going to put the customer on hold or going to transfer them.

-Fourth, be courteous, “kill with kindness,” and smile. Believe it or not a customer can hear a smile.

One of the hardest things for my team to handle are angry, abusive customers. When customers do not get their way they start attacking your self esteem, making it hard not to take their words personally; however, simply remembering the tips above and helping to put them to use will help when dealing with these customers.

For the second part of this topic I will be giving some tips on how to win over rude callers and how managers can motivate their employees to keep a positive attitude even with angry customers, so stay tuned for that post.

For now, make sure to challenge yourself to keep a thankful attitude towards all your customers. Make them happy that they talked to you today and make sure you follow the basic steps to tackling a phone call. Your change in attitude will definitely begin to rub off on others and your overall attitude will positively change.

If you have other suggestions make sure to leave them in the comments!

Halloween and a Dessert Contest at the Office

Josh Mc — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:21:00 -1400

One of my favorite days of the year at the Gordian Project office is halloween. On that one day every year you can keep the dress shirt and pants in the closet and let out your inner pirate, zombie or boy scout to make your day at work that much more enjoyable. You can check out the outfits from years past here and here. This year we decided to switch it up a little bit and to also tack on a dessert contest to the normal festivities. We have an awesome group of really creative people at GordianProject that just so happen to love to bake. This works out in favor of the whole office, as we are able to not only dress up in creative and unique ways but also eat sweets throughout the day. Check out the pictures below and let us know what your office did for halloween this year.

The entries for the dessert contest.

The whole crew that dressed up.

Until next year... Happy Halloween!

Four Tips for Running A Successful Holiday Promotion

Josh Mc — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 09:20:00 -1400

The holiday season is a special season for both the consumer and the business. It is a time of shopping, eating and connecting with family through holidays such as Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In business though, this is an important time of year, one where you need to make yourself stand out from the competition, taking the time to create a great promotion is a good way to do this. This time of year always comes with people spending money on themselves and on others so a well-targeted campaign can help connect with your customers as well as provide them a value when they are shopping. Below are four tips that will help you get on your way to running a successful promotion during the upcoming holiday season.

Embrace the Season
You want your promotion to fully impact people in an emotional way. The holidays, after all, are all about emotion. Your promotion should take this into consideration. Do not just have a sale for the sake of it, have a sale with a theme that connects directly to the holiday and the consumer. Adding emotion into your sale allows the user to connect with you and gives your company more personality.

Give People What They Want
You also need to make sure that you are running a promotion on products that people will actually want to purchase during this time of the year. For example, you will sell more sweaters around Thanksgiving and Christmas than you will around the Fourth of July. In many ways, this seems like common sense; however, store owners often make the mistake of trying to push the items that are out of season with a promotion. The result is often a lackluster sale that could have been prevented if seasonality was taken into consideration. A great place to check for this is on Google Trends. You can use this great tool to see when the most search volume is for the term. Below you can see the term sweaters is always searched at the end of the year.

Be Original
You should always strive to make your promotion different than everyone else's. You want people to look at your sale and think it is so good that they shouldn’t even leave your store to look for others. If the customer thinks they can probably find the same deal somewhere else, they will keep shopping, hoping to find even better savings as they go. If the customer leaves the store there is always a chance they will not come back, create a sale or promotion that makes it hard to not purchase from you.

Find your Advantage
Finding your advantage is essential for running a good sale during the holiday season. For some businesses this is price, for others service and for others still it's exclusive products. Regardless of what you decide is your advantage, finding ways to make the most of it is essential to a successful sale. Not everyone will have the lowest price on every item, but every business has some way they stand out that can help them to connect with their customers and provide them with a great shopping experience.

These are just a few of the tips we suggest to make sure this holiday season is a good one. We would love if you would leave a comment with your tips if you have one that I have left out.

Five Tips for Boasting Employee Moral Without Losing Work Hours

Josh Mc — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 07:29:00 -1400

When most business people hear the term "boosting employee morale", they usually picture exotic corporate retreats with corporate gurus guiding the group through trust exercises. The problem this concept is that it involves a great deal of money, time away from productive work, or both. Fortunately, most employees can be given a huge moral boost through simple recognition and fun. Below are five methods of making the workplace a more positive place for employees without wasting a great deal of time or spending a great deal of money.

You Know What Would Be Good On These Ribs?
Take any random sampling of four adult males and the likelihood of finding at least one who considers himself a grillmaster is probably 100%. Take advantage of this by having a company sponsored barbecue lunch. The grillmaster himself may be nonproductive for a couple of hour out of the day, but the rest of the staff can run out and grab a plate during their normal lunch period. To really run with the idea, have people sign up to become grillmasters at the monthly barbecue and offer a prize at the end of the year for the best. In addition to raising morale, this is a rapport building event suitable for inviting clients.

A Little Recognition Please
This concept has been underutilized in the past. A popular physical corporate joke is the employee of the month picture hanging somewhere in the back of the office - a picture that no one has bothered replacing in a decade. Creating a little ceremony to announce outstanding work, sacrifices a couple of minutes but can inspire people to be more productive every working moment in an effort to achieve the recognition.

Make Them Feel Special
For those who require a greater incentive than simple recognition, offering special privileges could turn an adequate worker into a frenzied production machine. The classic example of this is the parking spot next to the door reserved for the employee of the month. Offering a benefit that is not taken for granted as an employee's due, but rather a prize to be earned can boost morale and employee work ethic.

But It's For The Children
Throw a party that includes the children of employees. From a basic pizza party to a full blown private fair, having the kids happy with the company will make employees happier. Clients also have children. When clients' children are looking forward to a company's annual fair, the odds are much better that clients will remain customers for a long time.

Do You Know a Better Way?
Offer incentives or recognition for improvements in the way the company does business. It is amazing how often a long term employee can be filled with great ideas for improving profitability but never bother mentioning them. It is equally amazing how offering small incentives or recognition for such ideas can streamline a company's processes and make employees happy.

For businesses that cannot afford losing staff or spending money on long morale building trips, a little imagination can produce results just as good without the expense. What other tips do you have for maintaining employee moral? Make sure to leave them in the comments.

Five Tips for Email Marketing Success

Josh Mc — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:26:00 -1400

When it comes to email marketing, far too many people choose the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach. Unfortunately, this rarely works, and many times it can actually backfire and have the opposite effect. With various governments of the world stepping in and regulating email marketers, it is more important than ever to be aware of your actions and the message you are sending. As the online world of e-commerce continues to heat up, you will have an easier time getting ahead if you follow a few simple steps to ensure your email marketing success.

1.) Don't Spam
As mentioned, governments around the world are cracking down on spamming, in addition your customers hate it as well. Think about how often you are sending emails and if you are providing any value to your customers with these emails. If the answer is no then you probably shouldn't be sending them. In addition, spamming rarely works, and most people don't even look at messages that show up in the spam folder of their email. Instead of spamming, it pays to take a more targeted approach, both financially and in terms of your time spent.

2.) Keep Your Focus
While it may be easy to try to cram as much information as possible into an email message when trying to market yourself or your company, it's a far better idea to focus on one thing at a time. If you have a new product or service coming out, focus on that one specific idea instead of trying to lay out your complete line of products. The entire point of the email message should be to get customers and potential customers to either visit your website or visit a brick-and-mortar establishment. By including too much information, you may end up fatiguing the reader, leading them to discard the message quickly.

3.) Use Personalized Services
If possible, you will want to personalize each message. If you have a small list of email recipients, this can be done by simply sending individual emails with the names of customers included. However, if you have a large list of names, you may want to look into software that will automatically address each customer by name in each email. Doing this will let the customer know that you are thinking of them, and that you consider them a value to your business.

4.) Use Images Sparingly
While it is often a good idea to include graphics or images in your emails, don't overdo it. Large and complex images can slow down loading and delivery times, in addition many email services actually block images in emails unless the recipient clicks an option to unblock. This means that if your entire email message is made up of images, your recipients may not even see what you're sending.

5.) Subscribe to an Email Marketing Service
If you are unsure of how to go about email marketing, or you simply don't have the time, consider using a service that handles the task for you. Many email marketing services will include options to measure stats that show who is clicking on what, and who is using your email to visit your site, allowing you to have an easier time tailoring your email marketing strategy.

These are just a few of the tips that we recommend, if you have a great tip make sure to leave it in the comments.